Seat belts, sometimes referred to as safety belts, in vehicles have significantly reduced the probability of injuries during collisions or other incidents. The belt itself is generally wounded up about a reel, generally referred to as a belt reel. A belt reel of conventional type comprises a retraction mechanism to retract the belt from an extracted position. One extracted position is a buckled position, e.g., the position a driver of the vehicle has when being position behind the steering wheel and buckled up.
When the belt reel retracts the belt, the belt with its buckle runs the risk of either being retracted too slow or too fast. If retracted too slow, the belt can be caught between the vehicle body and its door which might damage the belt. If the buckle is caught between the door and the vehicle body, the buckle could break or damage the lacquer of the vehicle body. Should the belt reel retract the belt too fast, the buckle runs the risk of smashing into the interior panels of the vehicle and damage the interior panel. It has been noticed that a belt retraction speed approximately >3.0 m/s can damage the interior panels of the vehicle if hit by the buckle. Even if the impact of the buckle on the interior panel does not destroy the interior panel, it leaves ugly marks which can reduce the value of the vehicle. Providing a controlled belt retraction is thus a problem which needs to be addressed.
In the published UK Patent Application No. GB 2,319,502 A, a retractor assembly is disclosed. The retractor assembly comprises a two curved brake shoes arranged at a distance. The belt travels between the two brake shoes during the extracting and retracting motion. The curved brake shoes comprise inductive material such that when current is passed through them they are attracted to each other imparting a brake force to the belt webbing. The rotatable spool, or belt reel, itself can also be provided with an eddy current brake to restrict the pay out of the belt during a crash or collision. The document is however silent as to how the belt can be retracted in a safe and secure manner without risking inflicting damages to the interior panel or the lacquer of the vehicle.